Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use harbor in a sentence

40 example sentences · noun, verb

Harbor means any place of shelter. Example: “The neighborhood is a well-known harbor for petty thieves.”

Examples of harbor by meaning

nounAny place of shelter.

  • The neighborhood is a well-known harbor for petty thieves.

verbTo provide a harbor or safe place for.

  • The docks, which once harbored tall ships, now harbor only petty thieves.
  • A recent study explored the ecological variables that may contribute to bats’ propensity to harbor such zoonotic diseases by comparing them with another order of common reservoir hosts: rodents.2013 May-June, Katie L. Burke, “In the News”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 3, page 193

verbTo take refuge or shelter in a protected expanse of water.

  • The fleet harbored in the south.

verbTo hold or persistently entertain in one's thoughts or mind.

  • She harbors a conviction that her husband has a secret, criminal past.
  • Once I returned to the U.S., rather than harboring a grudge toward my captors, I would insist on being reassigned to Montesangre, reopening the embassy, and reestablishing diplomatic relations with the new regime.2013, Sandra Brown, Where There's Smoke, Hachette UK, →ISBN, page 268
  • But that's not the same thing as harboring a grudge, is it?2019, Sophie Hannah, How to Hold a Grudge: From Resentment to Contentment—The Power of Grudges to Transform Your Life, Simon and Schuster...

More sentences with harbor

  • The ship endured an interminable layup in the harbor lasting nearly a month.From the entry layup
  • They tried to piggyback that proposal on the rivers and harbors bill.From the entry piggyback
  • As for food delivery technology, our company missed the boat, the harbor, and the ocean.From the entry miss the boat
  • In the harbor, the ships’ horns blew.From the entry blow
  • The seals in the harbor looked better than they smelled.From the entry seal
  • The pilot conned the ship safely into the harbor.From the entry conn
  • A Chinese freighter was spotted entering the harbor.From the entry freighter
  • The lushly verdant jungle harbored many plants unknown to outsiders.From the entry lushly
  • The pilot conded the ship safely into the harbor.From the entry conde
  • English Navy squibs set fire to two dozen enemy ships in a Dutch harbor during the 16th-century battle against the Spanish Armada.From the entry squib
  • Twinism also harbored confusion of age-bracket in a society where seniority and hierarchy were valorized.2024, J. Shola Omotola, Samuel Oyewole, The Political Economy of Kidnapping and Insecurity in Nigeria, page 156. From the entry twinism
  • As they approached the harbor, the Chun Ji No. 8 suddenly capsized.2022 January 29, Luke Sabatier, “Captain missing, 4 migrant workers injured as fishing boat capsizes”, in Focus Taiwan, archived from the…. From the entry Caoli
  • Sometimes, I also used the night to set off a bamboo raft from Xiamen harbor.2022 February, Yongming Chen, Zhiyu Zhang, “Practicing the Cold War: What Communism Meant for Xiamen Fishermen/Women in the 1950s and…. From the entry Erdan
  • Loaded now with "Bunker-C" fuel oil, we cleared Colombo harbor, bound for Amsterdam.2010, Bernard Jankowsky, One Man's Odyssey, page 95. From the entry dutchie
  • Reptiles are known to harbor three important genera of rhabditids: Entomelas, Rhabdias, and Strongyloides.2007, David G. Baker, editor, Flynn's Parasites of Laboratory Animals, 2nd edition, page 187. From the entry rhabditid
  • Yet she harbors passions; it might be said of her that still waters run deep.2003 June 8, Alice Elliott Dark, “Book Review: Rainy Day Woman”, in New York Times, retrieved 09 Jul 2008. From the entry still waters run deep
  • The Kotzuliao fishing harbor at Tzukuan Rural Township has more than four hundred fishing boats.2000, The Story of Taiwan, Government Information Office, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 47. From the entry Tzukuan
  • We trust that we've relieved any Aibohphobia, any fear of palindromes that you might have harbored.1997, Richard Lederer, The Word Circus: A Letter-perfect Book, page 60. From the entry aibohphobia
  • You sure you're not harboring just a little of the old Frankenstein complex about all this?1987 December, Lois McMaster Bujold, “Falling Free”, in Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact, volume 108, number 13, page 30. From the entry Frankenstein complex
  • Finding yourself angry and frustrated about Reagan's mining of the Nicaraguan Pacific coast harbors?1984 April 21, Sue Hyde, “Got Those Intervention Blues, Friend?”, in Gay Community News, page 2. From the entry up to one's eyebrows
  • Engine stopped, she carried sternway as her bow swung for the harbor mouth.1981, Robert Roderick, The Greek Position: A Novel, Simon & Schuster, →ISBN. From the entry horse
  • Eighty thousand troops are deployed on Quemoy and Ma-tsu islands, within swimming distance of China's Amoy harbor.1980, Russell Warren Howe, “Orders of Battle, Balances of Power”, in Weapons: The International Game of Arms, Money and Diplomacy, Garden…. From the entry Ma-tsu
  • But Leichow Bay (Kwangchow Bay) on the eastern coast provides favorable conditions for harbors.1974 April, Lan-Sheng Chang, Chao Chi, “Three Big Peninsulas”, in China Reconstructs, volume XXIII, number 4, Peking: China Welfare…. From the entry Chankiang
  • The expansion of the new T'ang-ku Harbor was our first triumph in harbor construction.1960 April 25 [1959 October 6], Sun Tu, A Brilliant Decade of Harbor Construction in Our Country, United States Joint Publications…. From the entry T'ang-ku
  • Across the outer Amoy harbor from Kin Men is the island named Liehyu.1954 July, John C. Caldwell, “The Lost Christians of the China Coast”, in Christian Herald, volume 77, number 7, Christian Herald…. From the entry Liehyu
  • Some of the American ships remained in the harbor of Chefoo to watch what went on.1953, Herbert Feis, The China Tangle: The American Effort in China from Pearl Harbor to the Marshall Mission, Princeton University Press…. From the entry Yingkow
  • No unusual shipping concentration was observed in any of the major harbors.1951, CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN, Office of Current Intelligence, Central Intelligence Agency, page 4. From the entry Chien-ou
  • One type of water fear harbored by many youngsters is directly traceable to an unfortunate childhood experience.1947, The Journal of Health and Physical Education, volume 18, page 304. From the entry water fear
  • The harbor is protected on three sides by land, opening to the east.1946, Tsai-yu Hsiao, Epidemiology of the Diseases of Naval Importance in Manchuria, Bureau of Medicine and Surgery, →OCLC, page iv. From the entry Ta-lien
  • Sansha Bay, 62 miles north of Foochow, is one of the good harbors on the China coast.1945 May, Notes on the China Coast, volume XIV, number 5, →OCLC, page 22. From the entry Sansha
  • The Japanese authorities have ordered the South Manchuria Railway Company to develop the Hulutao harbor.1936, “Hulutao Harbor in Manchuria to Be Developed”, in Millard's Review of the Far East, volume 76, →OCLC, page 313. From the entry Lochin
  • These tumors often harbor homodeletion of Hippo core suppressors.2025 Feb, Poma, Anello Marcello, Bruno, Rossella, Petrini, Iacopo, Di Stefano, Iosè, Celi, Alessandra, Sbrana, Andrea, Cappelli, Sabrina…. From the entry homodeletion
  • Both clades appear to harbor widespread euryoecious species.2015 November 19, “Global Habitat Suitability and Ecological Niche Separation in the Phylum Placozoa”, in PLOS ONE, →DOI. From the entry euryoecious

Meaning of harbor

  1. noun Any place of shelter.
  2. noun A sheltered expanse of water, adjacent to land, in which ships may anchor or dock, especially for loading and unloading.
  3. noun A mixing box for materials.

Full definition of harbor

Questions about harbor in a sentence

How do you use harbor in a sentence?
Harbor is used as a noun and verb. For example: “The neighborhood is a well-known harbor for petty thieves.”
What is a short sentence with harbor?
“The fleet harbored in the south.”
What does harbor mean?
Harbor means any place of shelter.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: harbor (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this page: “How to use harbor in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/harbor. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.